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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » North Central Texas » Fort Griffin to Comanche » Breckenridge (Stephens County) » Swenson Memorial Museum (First National Bank)

Swenson Memorial Museum (First National Bank)

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1920, W. G. Clarkson and Co. 116 W. Walker St.

Several civic buildings in then-up-to-date styles reflect the strength and rapidity of Breckenridge’s oil boom. The three-story buff brick former bank is a robust classical scheme, unusual in that it is built midblock rather than at the street corner, but it is freestanding in order to emphasize its importance. The central recessed bay has two double-height Ionic columns set in antis, with an entablature and a cornice above the third-floor windows, topped by a stepped parapet. The bank was converted for use a museum in 1976.

The city’s two-story brown brick Fire Department and Municipal Court (1922, David S. Castle Co.; 208 N. Court Street), one of the town’s more monumental buildings, has a facade of four Ionic columns on its W. Elm Street side and resembles Castle’s City Hall in Stamford (SB4).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Stephens County Courthouse
Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
B. S. Walker House

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Swenson Memorial Museum (First National Bank)", [Breckenridge, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-FC11.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 288-288.

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